


Good news, bad news

by Pegship



Category: Castle
Genre: Episode: s06e02 Dreamworld, F/M, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 11:59:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19887370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pegship/pseuds/Pegship
Summary: After Castle recovers from the biotoxin, Rachel drives him and Beckett back to Beckett's apartment, and over takeout food and sex, Castle tells Beckett about an unforeseen side effect of the poison.





	Good news, bad news

Rachel drives them home, after Martha and her entourage have departed to commitments in New York. Rick has had to endure yet another battery of tests and questions; apparently he's one of only two people to survive the biotoxin, the other being the wife of the Secretary of Defense.

"You know what the worst of it is?" Rick grouses from the back seat. Kate exchanges a look with Rachel, knowing that he's about to tell them.

"The worst is that I can't use any part of this experience in a book. 'Classified' in real life can't be fudged."

"Unlike some of the books written by your colleagues," Rachel adds. "Not yours, of course."

Kate, who knows Rachel has never read a Richard Castle novel, says, "Now I know he's all right. He's spinning ideas in his head for his next book."

The car pulls up to Kate's building and all three of them get out of the car. Rachel comes around to the passenger side and waits until Rick has retrieved his bag of miscellaneous belongings, acquired while in the AG's facility and in the hospital. When he straightens up and sees her, he clears his throat and looks mildly embarrassed.

"Listen," he says, "I didn't mean to mess with Beckett's case, I'm really sorry - "

"Hey," says Rachel. "All's well that ends well, right?"

She leans up to press a kiss to his cheek, then steps back and enjoys his stunned expression.

"You're right," she says to Kate. "He really is a character."

Once the car is gone and he and Kate are alone in her apartment, Rick drops the bag and pulls her into an embrace.

"You hungry?" he asks. "Hospital food sucks. I can't believe my taxpayer dollars are funding that stuff."

Kate laughs. "If it were good, they'd never get anyone to leave. I have a Chinese menu here; we can order in."

Which they do, and after they've eaten and cleaned up, they act on the increasingly heated glances they've been exchanging over dinner. Nothing like a near-death experience to turn up the heat on their lovemaking, Kate thinks.

A night of exhausted, dreamless sleep, punctuated by bouts of joyful, life-affirming sex, brings them to mid-morning. Kate has to remind herself that she isn't expected at work for two days, and she snuggles into Rick's arms as he slumbers on. She's about to give in to sleep again herself, when she feels his breathing change and his arms give her a squeeze.

"Morning, Agent," he says in his morning voice, which is even sexier than his usual seductive tones. He kisses the top of her head, which she lifts to look at his face. His smile is sweet, but his eyes look somehow...wary.

"What is it?" Kate asks. She sits up and folds her legs underneath her as Rick sighs.

"You always know," he mumbles. "How do you always know?"

"Trained detective," she replies. "Also I know you better than anyone. I could tell, during that last conversation with the doctor, there was something you weren't saying. Something you didn't want him to say."

"It's not life-threatening. I swear," he says when Kate frowns. "It's - something I didn't want to talk about until I could tell you myself."

"And...?"

"Kind of a good news, bad news thing."

"Still waiting, Castle." He knows that tone meant business; she can tell by the tiny wince that crosses his face.

"You want the good news first? Or the bad news?"

"Castle."

"Okay, just for that you get the bad news first." He sits up, takes a deep breath. "The biotoxin had a few minor long-term effects."

"I was there," says Kate, trying to be patient. "I heard the report."

"Right, well, the bad news is that the toxin seems to have rendered me...sterile."

She did not see that coming; she stares, wide-eyed, and Rick looks even more anxious. He brings a hand up to her cheek and says, "I know how important it is to you, having a family, kids of your own. Our own."

"We'll have one," she says. "Just a different kind. It's - we'll - "

"And the good news." His expression becomes ever so slightly hopeful. "Um, besides the fact that we won't need to use birth control any more. Ow!"

Yep, she's grabbed his ear yet again. Why did God make ears stick out far enough to be a handle?

"You want the good news or don't you? Ow."

She releases his ear. The stare has turned into a glare.

"Remember that time we were at Supernovacon?" Rick rubs his abused ear. "We visited that guy with the replica weapons?"*

"Yeah..."

"I told him I'd fired the blaster, and he asked if I'd used, um, proper protection."

"You'd better not be telling me that that little escapade was the real reason for your - condition."

"No, no, but it got me thinking. Especially after you asked me if I wanted more kids."

"And you said you wanted the option."

"So I had my sperm count tested - totally not as fun as the movies make it sound, by the way - and then I, well, I made a deposit. Just in case."

"A deposit." Kate looks puzzled. "To whom?"

"A sperm bank."

She's staring again. Rick hopes it's an approving stare, an astounded and delighted stare; sometimes with Kate it's hard to tell.

"Kate?" He's getting a little worried. Two stares in five minutes could mean trouble. "It's a state of the art facility, I'm sure everything will work according to procedure. Any time you're ready to try."

The grin that spreads across her face brings him huge relief. He catches her in his arms and rolls her under him, kissing her madly.

"I have to state, for the record, though..." he says when they come up for air.

"What now?"

"Just 'cause we won't be procreating doesn't mean we're giving up the act, right? Ow!"

*"Final Frontier"


End file.
